According to statistics, in September 2020 Russia was in the first place by the number of tourists in the Maldives. It is the first time for the history of Russian tourism in the islands.

The Russian government has allowed flights to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives, and tour operators are ready to include tour packages for these destinations in their range. Market participants expect high demand in all three countries.

Aeroflot expects to start flights to the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the Maldives "as soon as possible" after the approval of slots, timetable and security issues with the authorities of these states.

For the first time Russians entered into the TOP-5 entry markets of the Maldives. Compared to July, the flow of tourists from the Russian Federation in August increased by 8,1 times.

According to the ministry, 58 Russian tourists came to the archipelago for the first two weeks of July, and 193 for the first half of August.

The Russian government may soon approve the resumption of international flights to the Republic of Korea and the Maldives. The national air carrier Aeroflot already offers tickets for the flights to South Korea and the Maldives in its online booking system.

On July 15, the Maldives will open for all tourists, including Russians.

Tour operators note that tourists continue to book tours in the Maldives for the future. There are requests and reservations for the autumn-winter period. The depth of the reservation reaches November.

Russia ranked sixth in the number of tourists in the Maldives in 2019. The archipelago was visited by 83,36 thousand travelers from Russia – 17,5% more than in 2018.

According to the results of 2019, the tourist flow from Russia to the Maldives increased by 17,5%, setting a record - the figures of the arrivals of Russians over the past year for the first time exceed the best pre-crisis indicators of 2013.

The charter chain of Azur Air airline to the Maldives this winter showed good results: both players who formed the tours on these charters reported on successful sales.

The desire to spend the New Year on exotic islands is increasing among Russians despite on the economic situation. A lot of hotels offer accommodation for New Year dates on favorable conditions.

In January-September 2019, 58 306 Russian tourists visited the Maldives, which is 14,1% more than for the three quarters of 2018. Taking into account the high demand for the winter season, the Maldives at the end of the year can set a historical record for Russian tourist flow.

During New Year's holidays Azur air will perform three charter flights from Moscow to the Maldives for the first time. Anex Tour acts as a consolidator of the flights, in addition to this - Tui Russia has blocks of seats.

The growing demand in Russia for holidays on the Maldivian islands is encouraging tour operators not only to use regular flights. Anex Tour opened sales of tours on charter flights with business-class to the Maldives. Tui Russia also took a block of seats on these flights. According to Anna Tkachenko, the head of the Maldivian department of Anex Tour, on July 24 the tour operator started selling tour packages with a charter flights to Male for the New Year's dates. 

Mouzenidis Travel Company has opened sales of tours to the Maldives. Tours to these islands the tour operator presented with departure from 10 cities of Russia and two cities of Kazakhstan. The tours to other exotic islands are expected in the nearest future.  As the press service of the tour operator told, the expansion of the range of destinations took place in accordance with the wishes of retail partners. 

The Russians can now stay on the Maldives without a visa up to three months. The agreement on mutual cancellation of visa regime was signed by the foreign ministers on June 25. Experts of the tourist market considered the event as an important, but it is unlikely to significantly increase the flow of tourists. 

ANEX Tour operator and other market players opened in May sales of New Year tours to the Maldives with transportation of Aeroflot regular flights. This year Aeroflot, in its winter schedule, performs one flight per day (SU 320 SVO-F-MLE 22:30 - 09:35 + 1) to Malé airport (the capital of the Maldives). The return flight is SU 321 MLE-SVO-F 11:15 - 18:30. Nowadays Russian tour operators arrange their package tours using these flights. 

The Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation and the Maldives Republic, Sergey Lavrov and Abdulla Shahid, will sign an agreement on the mutual abolition of visas. “On June 25, at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey V. Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, Abdulla Shahid, will visit Russia for the first time.

In the first quarter of 2019 the Russian tourist flow to the exotic island destinations of the Indian Ocean continued to grow. In total, for the first quarter of 2019 73,764 tourists from the Russian Federation visited the exotic island destinations of the Indian Ocean - the Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, which is 14.57% more than a year earlier.

According to ATOR, 70,935 Russian tourists visited the Maldives in 2018, which is 14.5% more than in the previous year, when 61,931 tourists rested on the islands. In general, foreign tourists flow to the Maldives grew by 6.8% for 2018. Most often, tourists from China rested in the country.

“Tourist flow from Russia to the Maldives increased by 20.3% for the first 9 months of 2018. 51,1 thousand of Russian tourists visited the islands,” reported the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

As of the end of September - beginning of October, preliminary sales of tours to the Maldives for the New Year holidays are 10-15% higher than the rates of bookings in the same dates last year. This information was provided by the leading tour operators on the direction. In this case, as experts explain, some growth in volumes is offset by the fact that even wealthy travelers try to save on the cost of tours.